When All Else Fails
by glow-in-the-dark
Summary: Harry Potter discovers he's a Horcrux, and tries to kill himself. But somebody stops him. DxH
1. Chapter 1

Chapter One

* * *

Draco Malfoy walked down the corridor, grinning to himself. He was in a good mood. Quidditch practice had just ended, and he had picked a good team. He was going to defeat the Gryffindors this year, see if he didn't. 

He passed the abandoned bathroom occupied by Moaning Myrtle. Normally he wouldn't use it, but he was in such high spirits he felt that he could handle a weepy ghost. Even one who brought back memories of the worst time in his life.

--_I tried to kill Dumbledore.--_

Scowling, he pushed away the memories, and pushed open the door.

As he entered the bathroom, he heard a startled curse, and one of the stall doors slammed closed. But not before he saw familiar jade green eyes, and _an equally familiar glint of liquid emerald_ –

"Bloody hell, Potter, what the fuck do you think you're doing?" Without stopping to think, Draco gave the door of the stall a hard kick. It swung open, and he knocked a small vial out of Harry's hand. The glass shattered on the floor, and a translucent liquid, in a shade of iridescent green unlike any other, spilled out.

"What am I doing?" Harry looked incredulous. "The question is, what are _you_ doing, Malfoy? I had a bloody hard time brewing that potion!" The Gryffindor dropped to his knees on the broken glass, but he seemed oblivious to the pain. All his attention was on the green liquid as it fizzled on the stone floor, then rapidly evaporated.

"I'm saving your worthless life, Potter," Draco informed him coolly. "How thick are you? That was poison!"

A silence. Draco's head began to pound. He came here ready for Moaning Myrtle and got Harry Potter at his most idiotic. The hell with it. He turned to leave the bathroom, then Harry spoke softly behind him.

"I knew it was poison."

Draco halted. The Poison of Painless Death, to be specific. He had brewed it for himself last summer, when he had failed to kill Dumbledore and he didn't think things could get any worse. That was why he had recognized the potion immediately. But he had a reason to be suicidal. Harry didn't. Why was he trying to do?

Draco took a deep breath and turned. "Right, Potter. Explain to me why you're trying to commit suicide in a bathroom haunted by Moaning Myrtle."

"I sent her away," Harry said. "She didn't want to leave at first but when she heard what I was going to do she was delighted. She said she'd give me privacy so I'd get it over with quickly."

"Which doesn't explain why you wanted to kill yourself in the first place."

Harry's tone was dull and lifeless. "Sod off, Malfoy. You've ruined it. Now I have to brew the whole potion again."

"Damn it, why?"

"Because I'm a coward. I'm afraid dying might be painful. Else I would have already stabbed myself, and been done with it."

Draco hadn't been asking why Harry chose the Potion of Painless Death to kill himself with. He had been asking why Harry wanted to kill himself at all, and Harry knew it. He was being dense on purpose, and Draco glowered at him. "I don't care how you commit suicide, Potter! I want to know _why_. If you don't tell me why you were about todown poison, I will kill you myself, Potter, and save you the trouble!"

Harry's laugh was short and bitter. "That's not a bad idea. Then it wouldn't be suicide."

Draco watched him. If he had found Harry about to guzzle any potion but the one he had once wanted to drink himself, he would have left him to it. Now he was involved, and he hated it, but he knew what it was like to want to kill yourself. "Potter – "

"Look, Malfoy, why do you care?" Harry stood up. He had stopped smiling, and there was pain in his eyes, pain he was clearly trying to conceal. But he couldn't. Draco vaguely recalled Snape telling him what a failure Harry had been at Occlumency.

"Thanks for the additional day to live," said Harry. With that, he left.

Draco stood still as Harry brushed by him. Then he heard the sound of the door closing, and Harry's footsteps receding down the corridor. His mind worked furiously...

A last resort came to him.

"I'll tell Weasel and the mudblood!"Draco yelled, as loud as he could.

A few moments later, the door opened again. Harry stood there, his eyes blazing. There was blood on the knees of his robe."What the hell is wrong with you, Malfoy?"

"Nothing." Draco gave the incensed Gryffindor his trademark smirk and left the room. He walked slowly, waiting.

Harry caught up to him. "Look, Malfoy, please don't tell Ron and Hermione. They'll – they'll never let me do it."

The desperation in Harry's voice made Draco want to shake him. "And why should they? There isn't any reason for you to kill yourself, you limey prick!"

Harry said nothing.

Draco's eyes narrowed. "Hope Granger and Weasley go easy on you, Potter, when they find out what you were trying to do." He started walking again.

Harry went after him. Grabbing him by the arm, he wheeled the Slytherin around to face him. Green eyes met silver ones.

"I'm a Horcrux."

* * *

Author's Note:  
I've been thinking about it, and Harry could be a Horcrux. Maybe an accidental one. Maybe Voldemort thinks that it's time to transfer the piece of his soul that he inadvertently put inside Harry on the night of his first downfall, and that's why he wants to kill him. That's whyVoldemort won't let anyone else kill Harry. 


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter Two

* * *

No blinding light of understanding flashed in Draco's eyes. "So? What's a Horcrux?" The word was vaguely familiar to him, but he couldn't recall where he had encountered it. 

Harry's eyes widened, and, unbidden, a smile formed on his lips. The irony of the situation didn't escape him. That confession had been the most difficult he had ever had to make --and the person to whom he had confessed had no idea what he was talking about.

Draco blinked. Harry had never smiled at him before. It unsettled him.

"It's a long story, Malfoy," said Harry after a moment. "You don't have to waste your time. Just don't tell Ron and Hermione, and we can forget any of this ever happened."

"Even if I agreed not to tell your friends, Potter -- which is highly unlikely --you have no guarantee I won't tell them someday."

"Except your word."

"The word of a Malfoy?" Draco's tone was laced with mockery.

Harry looked at him. Quietly he said, "What else can I do?"

Draco met his eyes. They were almost startlingly green behind those glasses, clear and direct. He had grown used to people, like his father and the Slytherins, who always had a hooded look in their eyes. "Listen, Potter, I've been there. I recognized the bloody potion because I almost used it once myself. I don't know what a Horcrux is, and I don't care. It's damn selfish of you to even consider killing yourself, especially since the entire wizarding community kept the Dark Lord from doing it for you."

"Selfish?" Fury crept into Harry's expression."You have no idea what you're talking about."

Draco shoved one hand into his pocket and felt around for his wand, just in case the Gryffindor was so angry he decided to do something stupid. "Then explain it to me, Potter."

"It's a long story," Harry repeated.

"Give me the short version."

Harry hesitated. When he finally spoke, his tone was resigned. "You're asking for it, Malfoy. Fine. But let's go back into the bathroom, because I'm not talking here."

The two seventh-years silently walked back into Moaning Myrtle's bathroom. Giving Draco a wry glance, Harry locked the door behind him. "I wish I'd thought of locking the door earlier."

"No, you don't," Draco said seriously.

Harry looked down. "You really have gone through this, haven't you?"

_And you really don't want to kill yourself, do you? So why are you doing it?_ But Draco kept his questions to himself. Harry would be answering them soon enough.

Harry spoke in a monotone, as though that would tone down the gravity of his words. "Voldemort -" Draco flinched and instantly regretted it, but if Harry noticed, he gave no sign of it. "- can't die because he cut up his soul into seven pieces. He placed each shred of his soul, and I use the term 'soul' loosely, into seven different objects. The only way to kill him completely is to destroy each of the seven parts of his soul."

Dracowas impatient."The Dark Lord is dead, Potter. Bloody hell, it was you who killed him."

"One portion of Voldemort's soul is still alive," said Harry.

Draco froze, finally getting an inkling of what the Gryffindor was telling him.

Harry busied himself picking up the shards of broken glass that still remained scattered on the floor. By then the potion had completely evaporated. "Each object which contains a portion of Voldemort's soul is called a Horcrux," he said.

The silence was defeaning.

Harry debated on whether or not to slash his wrist with one of the shards of glass, then decided against it. Too long a death. And he truly didn't think he could manage to stab himself in the chest.

At last, Draco spoke. "I think you should talk to Granger."

Harry's head shot up. "No! She'll never let me do it."

"She can't stop you, Potter." By now Draco,recoveredfrom Harry's stunning revelation, had regained his air of arrogance. "I say you ask her for a solution that doesn't involve your death, and if she can't find out what it is, then there isn't one. Then you can kill yourself when she's not looking."

Harry stood up. "That's actually not a bad idea."

"Don't souind so surprised. We Malfoys have always been ridiculously clever."

"Devious is more like it."

Draco smirked, but it lost some of its bite because of his relief that Harry was insulting him again. Like everything was normal.

"Okay, that's what I'll do. But don't ever tell anyone what I told you."

"I thought we'd talked about Malfoys and promises."

"I'm serious, Malfoy."

Draco considered for what seemed like eternity. Then he gave a short, brusque nod.


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter Three **

* * *

"I'm the last Horcrux." Harry faced Ron and Hermione, his heart pounding, as he made the confession. Exactly as he had made it on the suicide note he had intended to leave them. That single sentence was all the note contained. All, and everything. 

It took Ron and Hermione awhile to get over their shock.

The two of them had been with Harry when he destroyed all but three of the Horcruxes: Nagini, Voldemort, and one unknown, which turned out to be Harry himself, although none of them knew that at the time. Harry had told them adamantly to search for the unknown while he went after Nagini. They hadn't been happy about leaving him alone, but they did. One night, alone, Harry killed the snake in the Riddle house, and hehad just buried the body in the forest when he encountered a Death Eater. Harry had managed to get past the Death Eater, but then he had run into Voldemort.

That night, everything came to a head.

Ron and Hermione knew nothing of what had passed after they parted ways with Harry to search for the unknown. After Voldemort's downfall, Harry had refused to be interviewed by any publication, including the _Daily Prophet_, and he had evaded his friends' questions, telling them only that he wasn't ready to speak of what had happened yet. They accepted that, and didn't press him. Harry told them only to stop searching for the unknown Horcrux, because it was all taken care of.

Now, for the first time, Harry had decided to tell them what had taken place in the Riddle House on the night Voldemort died. Hermione set aside her shock and took charge.

"Okay. Before we deal with that — your being a Horcrux, I mean — I have a list of questions, and I want you to answer all of them honestly," Hermione said briskly. "Then we'll come up with something. First: how did you find out?"

"Voldemort told me," Harry said, then explained.

--------------------------------

_"Since you are about to die anyway, Potter, I may as well tell you: you are a Horcrux." _

_The words didn't register. Harry simply glared into the red slits that were Voldemort's eyes — and then it clicked. His rage turned into horror._

_"Ah, yes, Potter," said Voldemort softly. "The light dawns. I needed to kill you myself because I wanted the chance to save the part of my soul within you, perhaps transfer it to another object. But it turns out that is not possible. The bit of my soul inside you has been corrupted by your _goodness_." He said the word as though it left a bad taste in his mouth. "Even if I managed to extract it, which would be difficult enough, it would be worthless to me." _

_Harry had backed into the forest by then, and he grasped at a tree trunk for support. Furiously, he shook his head. Whether he was denying the fact that he was a Horcrux, or the fact that even if he was, Voldemort would still kill him, he did not know. _

_"After I kill you, there will only be two pieces of my soul left. The one in me, and the one in Nagini," Voldemort said. His tone became deadly. "Since you managed to dispose, against all odds, of the others. But no matter. The part of my soul within you, which you suppress with the willpower that tainted it with vestiges of your own heroism, is a necessary sacrifice. You must die. If I held you captive, you might be rescued, or you might escape, and you will not rest until you have killed me. You've proven yourself a formidable adversary." He smiled; a chill went down Harry's spine. "A compliment, Potter, from the Dark Lord himself. You should be flattered." __Harry clenched his fists and made an incoherent sound of rage, which caused Voldemort's mirthless smile to widen. "But you are not. Such foolish honor. You could be my right hand man, and you would be more valuable and more powerful than all others, for a part of me is within you. But you choose to fight me instead. Very well. You shall die." _

_Voldemort raised his wand. _

_And Harry shouted, "Nagini is dead!" _

--------------------------------

Hermione clutched Ron's hand. Both of them were visibly shaken.

"Why did you tell us only now? That was months ago!" Ron said.

Harry shrugged wearily. "I thought the only solution was to kill myself, and you would have stopped me."

"Damn right, we would have!" Ron looked outraged. "As if we would have let you commit suicide! You-Know-Who's not going to rise again just because a bit of his soul is stuck inside you."

"I can't risk that," Harry said quietly.

"So why are you telling us now?" Hermione asked.

Harry hesitated. "I was going to kill myself. But I didn't go through with it because — because I don't want to die. If that's the only way to make sure Voldemort is gone for good, I'll do it, but what if there's another way? I'm hoping that there could be, and—"

"There has to be," Hermione cut in, her expression determined.

"I need your help finding a way out," Harry finished. He and Ron traded hopeful looks. The last time they had seen that look on Hermione's face, S.P.E.W. was born.

"We'll help, of course," Hermione said, the brisk tone back in her voice. "But first, let's hear all the details. I'm glad you decided to finally open up to me and Ron, Harry. We've been curious for so long. Next question: how did you kill Nagini?"

"I was scared," Harry admitted. "I only did it because I knew, from Moody, that the Auror spies suspected Voldemort was away at the time, trying to convince the giants that had joined with Grawp to come back to his side. And, of course, searching for me. For some reason, Moody said, Voldemort had suddenly become more anxious than ever to find me. I think it was because he knew it was me behind the destruction of his Horcruxes. But Moody didn't know that."

Hermione and Ron nodded. They had decided to keep the secret of the Horcruxes to themselves. If Voldemort knew that his secret was out, then he would guard his Horcruxes more protectively than ever.

"According to the Auror informants," Harry went on, "Voldemort had left his pet snake behind, at the Riddle House. I went there to kill Nagini."

--------------------------------

_Harry whistled. The clear sound echoed through the night. Then he stopped. Could snakes hear? Damn,he didn'tknow. He wishedhe could askHermione._

_Harryhesitated, then picked up a rock and threw it at a window. The glass shattered. He picked up another rock, and hurled it through another window. He threw rocks until all the windows in his vision were broken. _

_There. Surely the snake would notice that. He waited in the shadows outside the Riddle house, his wand held tightly in his sweaty hands. _

_It wasn't long before the snake slithered out to investigate _

_Harry knew that he had only one chance to cast a spell on Nagini. If he missed, the snake would be upon him in seconds, and he would be defenseless then. He took careful aim with his wand. _

_"Petrificus totalus!" Harry shouted. _

_For a terrible moment, he thought he had missed. Then, with a shudder, the snake jerked forward, stiffening, frozen in place. _

_Harry didn't waste time. He knew that Nagini had a connection with Voldemort, and he didn't want to give the snake time to make use of it. Instantly he emerged from the shadows of the trees to the moonlit patch of ground where Nagini was immobilized, and crushed the snake's head under his boot. He stomped again and again, not only on the head but down the length of the snake's body, until all that remained was a pulpy mass of blood and scaly skin. _

_Harry looked down at the gore. He stamped one more time on the bloody mess that used to be Nagini's head, then scraped the bottom of his boots clean on the overgrowth of weeds at the edge of the Riddle house. _

_"Reparo," he muttered, pointing his wand at a window. He pointed his wand at another one. "Reparo." On and on he went, until all the windows had been repaired, although they were no longer as dusty as before. He hoped Voldemort wouldn't notice. _

_Harry went back to the dead snake. He levitated it with a spell and held out the stringy pulp in front of him as he ventured into the depths of the forest behind the Riddle House. But not before he covered up the blood on the ground with dirt. He didn't want to leave evidence. He wanted Voldemort to believe that Nagini was still alive for as long as possible. _

_In the forest, he dug a hole and dropped the snake inside. And, without a twinge of guilt or regret, he buried Nagini. _

_He was about to leave when the Death Eater arrived. _

--------------------------------

"You should have told us all this right after it first happened!" Ron said, looking quite pale at the thought of going one-on-one against a Death Eater.

Harry said nothing. It had been three months since Voldemort had died, and he had spent most of that time in a haze of depression and misery, putting off his death for as long as he could. He hadn't wanted to talk to anyone.

Funny that it was Malfoy who had, in the end, convinced him to open up.

"All right," said Hermione. "Question number three: what happened after you killed Nagini?"

--------------------------------

_Peter Pettigrew stared at him, stunned. Harry stared back. _

_The Death Eater recovered first. With his silver hand, the one he had been given to replace the hand he cut off on the night Voldemort was reborn, he whipped out his wand and pointed it at Harry. His speed was stunning. "Don't move!" he cried. _

_Harry, frozen, simply stood there, his wand dangling at his side. The shock on Peter's face changed to triumph. _

_"What rewards I shall get when I bring you to the Dark Lord," Peter breathed, his eyes glinting. "The Boy Who Lived! He has been searching for you… and it is I who will bring you to him…"_

_For a long while, the two of them stared at each other, at a standoff. Harry's mind whirled. Peter definitely had the upper hand... and yet..._

_"Wormtail." Harry's voice was low and toneless. "You owe me. I saved your life." _

_At the sound of the name, perhaps remembering the Marauders, Peter's wand arm trembled. "There are no pacts between Death Eaters and Muggle-Lovers! I owe you nothing." _

_"You owe me. I saved your life," Harry repeated, but his mind continued churning, calculating whether or not he should raise his wand right now, and hope he got off a spell before Peter did whatever he had to do. He tensed, his green eyes intent on Peter's wand, ready to strike — _

_"Then go!" Peter cried, his voice high and strident. He looked surprised at his own words, but he lowered his wand. "Go before I change my mind, Potter!" _

_Harry wasted a moment gaping. Then he turned and hurried away. He was shaking; only then did he realize how afraid he had been. But he couldn't resist looking back. Peter was still within sight, staring after him. _

_The Death Eater muttered something. Harry thought it sounded like, "You look exactly like James… but you have Lily's eyes." _

_Harry felt neither anger nor gratitude, only emptiness. "Wormtail." _

_"My debt is repaid," Peter shouted, his eyes darting around frantically, as though to check if anyone witnessed this treason to the Dark Lord. "Go!" _

_This time, Harry didn't look back. He left. _

--------------------------------

"You ran into Wormtail?" Ron breathed.

"Oh, Harry — you realize what he risked? Voldemort is skilled at Occlumency. Seeing into Wormtail's mind, seeing that he had let you go… It would have been easy for Voldemort. Wormtail would have been doomed," Hermione said.

Harry looked away. Despite everything, he couldn't quite bring himself to forgive the man who had betrayed both his parents, and Sirius, too. "Yeah."

"He did what was right," Hermione said gently. "He was weak, but perhaps a bit of the Marauder remained inside him. He mentioned your parents, Harry. He let you go for James and Lily."

Harry nodded, unable to meet her gaze. He wondered what Hermione would say after she heard the rest of the story.

Ron saw that Harry was uncomfortable. He cleared his throat to distract him and said loudly, "Let's move on, next question. What happened after that?"

"That's not exactly it," said Hermione. "The fourth question is, how did you kill Voldemort?"

"Same thing," said Ron.

Harry took a deep breath. "How did I kill Voldemort? That's a good question. The truth is, I couldn't have done it on my own."

**

* * *

**

**Author's Note:  
**To be continued…


	4. Chapter 4

**CHAPTER FOUR**

**

* * *

**

_Harry ran deeper into the forest at first, then changed his mind and headed for the edge of the forest. He didn't want to get lost. He made sure to take a route that didn't take him anywhere near Wormtail._

_When Harry was certain that he had left Wormtail behind, he slowed down, panting. By then the Riddle house was visible through the trees. He leaned against a tree trunk until he caught his breath, then he stepped out of the forest. He had entered it from the right side of the Riddle house, where he killed Nagini; he emerged into the overgrown backyard of the Riddle House. _

_Harry was so distracted by the scene with Wormtail that he didn't notice the faint glow coming from an upper window of the house, didn't consider the awful implications of such a glow. The master of the house was back… _

_Voldemort apparated in front of Harry. _

_Harry let out an involuntary sound of surprise and staggered backwards. He stumbled, and quickly righted himself. _

_Voldemort stared at him. "Welcome, Harry Potter." _

_Harry raised his wand, but his mind was blank with terror. _

_"Expelliarmus!" Voldemort roared, and before Harry had time to react, his wand had shot out of his hand. He made a grab for it, but he missed. _

_Voldemort pocketed Harry's wand. "I have been searching for you. It was you destroying my Horcruxes, was it not? Dumbledore must have known. He told you before he died." _

_"Yeah. Took you long enough to find me." Harry's mouth was dry, and he wondered where he found the courage to answer back. Without his wand, he was dead, and he knew it. He had failed Ron and Hermione and Lupin and Dumbledore and Sirius and his parents— _

_Voldemort saw his despair, and a cold light, perhaps of pleasure, entered his red eyes. He kept his own wand trained on Harry as he said casually, "Since you are about to die, Potter, I may as well tell you: you are a Horcrux." _

--------------------------------

"That was when he told you about your being a Horcrux? And all that stuff about corrupting his soul?"

"Yeah," said Harry. In spite of everything, he allowed himself a small smile. In hindsight, it sounded like a grand adventure, and Ron and Hermione were hanging on to his every word, spellbound, their mouths slightly open. Their eyes were wide and alive with a mixture of horror and curiosity and interest and fear and excitement.

"So what happened after you told him Nagini was dead?"

"Well…" Harry frowned. "He wasn't too pleased."

--------------------------------

_"Nagini is dead!" Harry yelled._

_Voldemort went very still. Deathly still. _

_Afraid now, more than he had ever been in his life, Harry waited. He considered running away, into the forest, then discarded the option. Voldemort could hit him in the back with a spell, and even if he missed, who knew how many Death Eaters were roaming the forest, Wormtail included. They probably all knew that Voldemort was returning tonight. They wouldn't hesitate to kill Harry Potter. _

_"Nagini is dead?" asked Voldemort. Almost gently._

_"I killed her myself." Inwardly, Harry marveled at his own nerve. _

_"Where is her body?" _

_Harry's look said it all: he wasn't going to tell him. _

_"_Crucio!_" And finally, Voldemort allowed his fury to show._

_Harry crumpled to the floor, screaming. Pain coursed through him, black pain, red-hot pain, white pain, searing agonizing hellish pain… for minutes, for an eternity, Voldemort watched Harry writhing on the ground. Finally, he lifted the spell. _

_"Where is Nagini's body?" Voldemort shouted again._

_Harry, sweat-slicked and panting, did not answer. _

_"Where is it?" Voldemort's voice rose, his red eyes were narrowed into slits. _

_It took all the reserves of courage within Harry to raise his finger and give Voldemort the dirty finger. He was still gasping for breath, unable to speak, but some insults were universal. Voldemort's pale skin became blotchy with rage. _

_"Crucio!" _

_Harry screamed again. His screams were so loud, neither he nor Voldemort noticed a familiar figure skulking in the trees behind the Dark Wizard. His eyes, trained on Harry, were filled with pity and horror. Hishands, one normal, one silver-white,were clenched very tightly. But whether in pain, or anger, or some other emotion, perhaps, it wasn't clear. _

--------------------------------

"I knew it!" Hermione crowed. "I knew Wormtail was going to play a part in this!"

"How?" Ron asked.

"Harry's face," she explained. "When I was defending Wormtail, his face had wait-and-see written all over it."

"It did?" Harry asked. He had never considered his face expressive before.

"Go on," said Ron. "Question five — or is it six? — what happened next?"

Harry resumed his tale.

-------------------------------

_When Voldemort finally lifted the Cruciatus Curse, Harry's palm was bleeding where his nails dug into his skin, and his nails were caked with dirt from where he had clawed at the ground. He felt wetness on his cheeks; he had been crying. _

_When he saw Peter, he thought, in his pain-induced haze, that he was imagining him. _

_"Where is Nagini?" _

_Harry didn't have enough breath to answer. His chest heaving, he stole a quick glance at the spot in the trees behind Voldemort where he thought he had seen Peter — yep, it was him, all right. Peter Pettigrew, in the flesh. _

_The Marauder-turned-Death-Eater was staring at the ground. Harry wondered if he should call out to him. Then he made a quick decision: he wouldn't reveal Peter. He glanced quickly at Voldemort. _

_If the Dark Wizard was aware of Peter's presence, he hid it well. _

Help me,_ Harry thought, attempting telepathy in his desperation. He concentrated on Wormtail in his mind, not as he was now, but as he had been in the picture of the Marauders: a bit overweight, clean, smiling. Not a traitor. _

_"Where is Nagini?" Voldemort's voice cracked like a whip across the night, and Harry closed his eyes. _Help me,_ he thought, despairing. _

_To Voldemort he said, his voice hoarse from his screams, "Give me my wand. Let's duel, one on one. If you beat me, I'll tell you before you kill me, I swear it." _

_Voldemort's stare was pitiless. "I can make you tell me without the trouble of a duel." _

_"Are you scared?" Harry challenged. His heartbeat was so loud, he was certain Voldemort could hear it. _Don't cast the Cruciatus again, please don't, please don't—

_But he had said the magic words. Voldemort's face darkened. "Scared? As you wish then, Harry Potter. Prepare to die." _

_He tossed Harry's wand to him. Harry barely caught it; his reflexes were off, his entire body still trembling faintly with the memory of tortuous pain. He forced himself not to glance at Peter Pettigrew. The fact that the Death Eater hadn't revealed his presence yet gave Harry great hope, though he was afraid to give in to it. If Peter was on Voldemort's side, he would surely have spoken before now… and if he wasn't on Voldemort's side, then… _

_"Get up." _

_Harry got up. His knees were unsteady. _

_"Let us duel," said Voldemort. Already the light of victory was glimmering in his eyes. "This time you will not be saved by the Priori Incantatem. I am using a different wand. The one that belonged to Sirius Black, I believe. Bellatrix Lestrange gave it to me, when she heard that I was searching for you. She did not want a repeat of your escape at the graveyard, the night I was resurrected." _

_Harry had considered that option, too, but now it was gone. _Defeated by Sirius' wand, _he thought grimly to himself. He set his jaw. "Start the fight, then!" _

_Voldemort took him literally. Without preamble, he shouted, "Crucio!" _

_But Harry had expected that. He dodged. Unfortunately, Voldemort had also been anticipating him. He had aimed his spell to the right, where Harry dodged, and the spell caught him in the shoulder. _

_Pain exploded in his head, but he had his wand. As he fell, he shouted out a counterattack, his wand aimed at Voldemort. In his agony, he wasn't aware of the spell he had used, but it must have hit its mark. The Cruciatus Curse abruptly lifted, and Harry scrambled up, panting. Opposite, Voldemort was also struggling to stand, apparently having been hit by a Leg-Binding Charm. _

_"Crucio!" Voldemort shouted again, just as Harry bellowed, "Sectumsempra!"_

_That was when Peter Pettigrew made his move._

* * *

To be continued... 


End file.
